In September this year, I went for a 12 day trip to Panama; first 5 days in the rain forest for the wild life and the latter part for the ship photography.Stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson, Panama Canal right on the canal bank (Beware there is another Country Inn in Panama City)There are some trees between hotel and canal and ideally you would want to be on the highest floor.I had booked a full transit trip but a half transit would be enough as the second part through Gatun Lake was very quiet and by the time we got out of the Gatun locks, it was getting too dark for decent photography of the shipping anchored off Colon.Although the new locks at both ends were in use, there was still a type of convoy system through the narrow Culebra Cut.Consequently there was a lull between the north bound traffic which slowed from 10:00 onwards and about 15:00 when the south bound traffic appeared.I will not list all the vessels seen but I will post some photos once I have finished sorting them. (As usual, I will only post if there are 15 photos or fewer)I would probably not go again as it was a 10.1/2 hr non-stop flight from Franfurt (Lufthansa which was good)That together with the high humidity and the hiatus around the middle of the day took the edge off the trip.Note - The new visitor centre at Miraflores locks seems to open at the quietest time for traffic!